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Windows 7: Onboard sound issue with new PC build

This weekend I built a PC reusing parts like the GPU, PSU, and HDD that were in my old HP pavilion but replaced everything else. I also kept all of my files and windows 7 installation using sysprep. Everything is fine except the audio (onboard) which has a weird problem with the volume. It seems the volume is inconsistent, and instead of a flatline volume for all sounds, quiet sounds are too quiet and loud sounds are deafening. This makes watching videos and playing games a pain because the sound is just not right, and constantly hurt my ears. I've tried the loudness equalization setting in windows but that didn't help much. I also tried the demo of a sound enhancing program called breakaway, and that almost fixes the problem but all sound lags and the full program is $30.00 so I don't think I'm going to use that. Is there a way to fix this problem or am I going to have to buy a sound card?

Did you install the Gigabyte supplied drivers, and specifically the sound driver. The motherboard vendor (in this case) drivers are the preferred. Non-Vendor driver drivers can not work or not work correctly.

I have a recent built system, using a Gigabyte motherboard, and after installing Win 7 I installed all the drivers from the Gigabyte supplied disc. Win 7 will install some drivers, some with be the latest and correct, some will be old drivers and some will be just generic drivers. Given that you used the Win 7 installation from the old PC I suspect the drivers are the problem.

Yes, the motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 and it came with a disk that contained many drivers including a VIA HD audio driver. The sound problem was the same before and after installing the audio driver and I couldn't find any settings in the VIA HD audio deck that remedied the problem. I even tried uninstalling the VIA HD driver and reinstalling it but that didn't seem change anything.

If it helps, before the hardware change and sysprep, the old pc was using a realtek audio driver. After I changed the hardware like the motherboard and CPU and used sysprep to keep my Windows 7 installation, the realtek audio dirver icon showed up in the 'uninstall programs' menu in the control panel and I double clicked on it and uninstalled it from there. Hopefully that completely removed all the realtek components but I'm not 100% sure if the realtek drivers are completely gone. I mean, it doesn't show up in the device manager under 'Sound, video and game controllers' so I assume it's gone but I'm still not completely sure.

Using a keyfinder, it does say OEM on it. I remeber someone saying sysprep causes you to lose all activation information, so maybe that's it? Also sorry about my lack of system specs, I was in a hurry last night, so I'll update it soon.

Also, I was thinking of doing a fresh install of windows but I don't really know how I would go about doing that. Doesn't it involve buying an expensive Windows 7 disk? If not what would I have to do? If all else fails, that sound card seems like a good option, and I didn't expect them to be that cheap. It's definitely a better option that that "sound enhancement" program.

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